Our video team launched a new original series this morning called Op-Vid: Campaign 2012. They’re pretty excited! In their humble words, It’s summed up as “opinion, without the pundits yelling. Handmade animation, without the caricatures. Essays, without the text. Complex topics, without the boring.”

This first edition in the series features Harvard professor and NewsBeast contributor Niall Ferguson taking on the economy.

Creator/Director Joe Posner’s gone down this road before, with “Austerity,” a similar video concept featuring Professor of International Political Economy Mark Blyth talking about Austerity budgets. That wound up on NPR’s All Things Considered.

Come, expand thy brains.

If we continue as we are, fighting over a shrinking pie, and if those who have made vast fortunes over the past three decades refuse to contribute their share to solving it, and if ordinary Americans believe that these people have bought the Congress, then we’re talking serious social unrest. Occupy Wall Street is a puppet show compared with what could be coming. Americans aren’t Japanese. They do not take decline and depression stoically - and if such decline is seen as one that exempts the global moneyed elite, watch out.

Andrew Sullivan argues for “a big infrastructure package with full-scale tax reform to raise revenues and reduce rates”—or else.

underpaidgenius:

newsweek:

Let’s face it: Many Americans are concluding their government is broken. From health care to education, housing to stocks, the people elected to help seem to be doing just the opposite. So who has the answers—and how can we help ourselves?

Newsweek and The Daily Beast want to hear about your thoughts on our biggest problems, how you would fix them, and the people you know in your own backyards who are making things work.

We’re calling our search “Just Fix It.”

Each day we’ll feature a specific question related to certain aspects of the American economy. Today’s question: What can we do to create jobs in our local communities? Feel free to answer with a reblog or simply email justfixitideas@gmail.com.

[Stay tuned to this space, our Twitter account @newsweek, and the hashtag #justfixit to participate and send your solutions.]

In my community, Beacon NY, we have a number of condemned buildings which are a blight as well as a financial drain. Imagine if the city were to take possession of these properties by imminent domain, and structured a community non-profit to renovate the buildings, and restore them to the rental market, either for commercial or residential purposes. Locals could be employed to renovate or rebuild these structures, and their salaries would be paid by the non-profit, and those would be repaid later from rental income.

Now these are the type of local economy solutions we’re talking about! Underpaid Genius, your tumblr name is far too accurate.

(via underpaidgenius)

Let’s face it: Many Americans are concluding their government is broken. From health care to education, housing to stocks, the people elected to help seem to be doing just the opposite. So who has the answers—and how can we help ourselves?

Newsweek and The Daily Beast want to hear about your thoughts on our biggest problems, how you would fix them, and the people you know in your own backyards who are making things work.

We’re calling our search “Just Fix It.”

Each day we’ll feature a specific question related to certain aspects of the American economy. Today’s question: What can we do to create jobs in our local communities? Feel free to answer with a reblog or simply email justfixitideas@gmail.com.

[Stay tuned to this space, our Twitter account @newsweek, and the hashtag #justfixit to participate and send your solutions.]